A Campfire Girls Test of Friendship | Page 6

I'll

have a great surprise for you the next time I see you."
The time passed quickly and pleasantly, and all too soon Miss Eleanor
had to give the word that it was time to start for the landing if they were
to catch the little steamer that was to take them to the other end of the
lake.
"I tell you what! We'll all go with you as far as you go on the boat, and
come back on her," said Marcia. "That will be good fun, won't it? I've
got plenty of money for the fares, and those who haven't their money
with them can pay me when we get back to camp."
All the girls from Camp Halsted fell in with her suggestion, delighted
by the idea of such an unplanned excursion. It was easy enough to
arrange it, too, for the little steamer would be back on her return trip
early in the afternoon, even though she did not make very good speed
and had numerous stops to make, since Lake Dean's shores were lined
with little settlements, where camps and cottages and hotels had been
built at convenient spots.
"We've heard you singing a lot of songs we never heard before," said
Marcia to Bessie, as they took their places on the boat. "Won't you
teach us some of them? They were awfully pretty, we thought."
"You must mean the Camp Fire songs," said Bessie, happily. "We'll be
glad to teach them to you--and they're all easy to learn, too. I think
Dolly's got an extra copy of one of the song books and I know she'll be
glad to let you have it."
And so, as soon as Bessie explained what Marcia wanted, the deck of
the steamer was turned into an impromptu concert hall, and she made
her journey to the strains of the favorite songs of the Camp Fire, the
Wo-he-lo cheer with its lovely music being, of course, sung more often
than any of the others.
"We were wondering so much about that," said Marcia. "We could
make out the word Wo-he-lo, but we couldn't understand it. It sounded
like an Indian word, but the others didn't seem to fit in with that idea."

"It's just made up from the first syllables of work and health and love,
you see," said Eleanor. "We make up a lot of the words we use. A good
many of the ceremonial names that the girls choose are made that way."
"Then they have a real meaning, haven't they?"
"Yes. You see, one of the things that we preach and try to teach in the
Camp Fire is that things ought to be useful as well as beautiful. And it's
very easy to be both."
"But tell me about the Indian sound of Wo-he-lo. Was that just an
accident, or was it chosen that way on purpose?"
"Both, I think, Marcia. You see, the Indians in this country had a lot of
good qualities that a great many people have forgotten or overlooked
completely. Of course they were savages, in a way, but they had a
civilization of their own, and a great many of their practices are
particularly well adapted to this country."
"Oh, I see! You don't want them to be forgotten."
"That's just it. It's a good way to keep the memory of earlier times alive,
and there seems to be something romantic and picturesque about the
Indian names and the Indian things."
"That's one of the things I like best that I've found out about the Camp
Fire since you came to Camp Sunset. We used to think the Camp Fire
meant being goody-goody and learning to sew and cook and all sorts of
things like that. But you have a lot of fun and good times, too, don't
you?"
"Yes, and there really isn't anything goody-goody about us, Marcia.
You'd soon find that out if you were with us."
"Well, I'm very glad that so many people have been led to know the
truth about us," said Eleanor, with a smile. "If everyone knew the truth
about the Camp Fire, it would soon be as big and as influential as even
the most enthusiastic of us hope it will be. And I'm sure that we'll grow

very fast now, because when girls understand us they see that we
simply help them to have the sort of good times they enjoy most.
Having a good time is a pretty important thing in this life."
"I--I rather thought you would think that we spent too much time just
having a good time," said Marcia, plainly rather surprised by this
statement.
"I don't say anything about you girls in particular, because I don't know
enough about you," replied Eleanor. "Of course, it's easy to get to